An air filter designed to remove particulate is generally a device composed of fibrous materials. These fibrous materials may remove solid particulates such as dust, pollen, mold, and bacteria from the air. Air filters are used in applications where air quality is important, notably in building ventilation systems and in engines.
Air filters may be used in automobiles, trucks, tractors, locomotives and other vehicles that use internal combustion engines. Air filters may be used with gasoline engines, diesel engines, or other engines that run on fossil fuels or other combustible substances. Air filters may be used with engines in which combustion is intermittent, such as four-stroke and two-stroke piston engines, as well as other types of engines that take in air so that a combustible substance may be burned. For example, air filters may be used with some gas turbines. Filters may also be used with air compressors or in other devices that take in air.
Filters may be made from pleated paper, foam, cotton, spun fiberglass, or other known filter materials. Generally, the air intakes of internal combustion engines and compressors tend to use either: paper, foam, or cotton filters. Some filters use an oil bath. An air filter for an internal combustion engine prevents abrasive particulate matter from entering the engine's cylinders, where it would cause mechanical wear and oil contamination. Many fuel injected engines utilize a flat panel, pleated paper filter element. This filter is usually placed inside an enclosed, plastic box connected to a throttle body by way of ductwork. Vehicles that use carburetors or throttle body fuel injection systems typically use an air filter positioned above the carburetor or the throttle body.
A drawback to conventional air filters is that even if improved airflow is provided, conventional air filters sacrifice filtering ability and engine protection in the process. Conventional air filters are typically made of paper, and thus they may provide filtration, but at an expense of desirable airflow which could be used to improve performance characteristics of a motor vehicle. Moreover, as air filters become dirty, the effective airflow that is received by the engine of the motor vehicle decreases, which is to be expected over time and use. Further still, when conventional air filters become dirty, they must be replaced, and thus represent at least one additional maintenance cost for the owner of the motor vehicle, for example.
What is needed, therefore, is a reusable air filter system that increases airflow to an engine without decreasing filtration capability, such that the increased airflow remains consistent throughout the filter's service interval, and also such that the filter may be periodically cleaned and reused.